


Lilith

by the_herald



Series: Lilith [1]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Comedy, Crime Fighting, F/M, Romance, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-07-11 21:15:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7070572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_herald/pseuds/the_herald
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Margot's just your not-so-average scientist living in Midtown Manhattan before she creates a headset capable of hearing everything within a 30 block radius. While spying on her neighbors one night, she prevents a rape and gets thrown into a media frenzy. Now she's committed to helping New York's Special Victims Unit, and ADA Rafael Barba, bring criminals to justice. Say hello to Lilith, Midtown Manhattan's newest superhero.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Origins

**Author's Note:**

> Okay wow hi what's going on?? So I've been watching a lot of Daredevil and thought this might be fun (it's not a super serious fic). I'm not sure how this story will go and I haven't planned anything out about it yet because I'm a MESS but hope you enjoy. also you can hmu on tumblr i'm @rafi-barba

Okay, first and foremost, it’s time to introduce the hero of the story – Margot. That’s me. That’s my name. Except when I’m doing that whole crime fighting thing as a mistress of night or whatever you want to call it. If you run into me between dusk and dawn (and I don’t think you want to) you can call me Lilith. And let the record show that even though I didn’t pick that name, it’s grown on me. I’ve been reading up on the whole Lilith mythology and I’ve taken a liking to it, so if that’s what the papers want to call me, so be it. Next, I want to tell you how this whole thing, the crime fighting thing I just mentioned, yeah that little thing, how that all started. So here goes…

It was another lonely Friday night (you can cue the sob music here if you feel the need to, I think it adds a nice dramatic and sad affect) and I was messing around with my new toy. Okay that sentence was a little misleading. To make it clear - I was not masturbating. I’m a scientist, I swear! I was toying with my new invention. Aw man! It’s so cool. It’s the greatest invention, let me tell you about it. Okay so it’s this super sonic headset that I’ve been trying to create since I was like 10 years old. They kind of look like a pair of workout earphones, you know the kind that wrap around the back of your ear so they stay in place. But oh buddy, my guy, my pal - these were no ordinary headphones. They were capable of picking up sound waves from as far as 30 blocks away. And the part that wraps around your ear is fitted with electrodes which pick up brainwaves. Now look, let’s not get down to the nitty gritty technical details because I’ll go off on a tangent and we’ll be fifty pages into this story and 49 of them will be how the damn supersonic headset works and nobody wants that. To make a long story short the headset picks up lots of sound waves and then the wearer can concentrate on a few waves in particular, the brain waves then send out a message to the headset which filters out the rest of the sound waves and voila – you can have fun sound spying on everyone in midtown Manhattan. Which is totally what I did.

Every night for two weeks after I made that headset I was up on the rooftop of my apartment building. I considered this my testing phase. In other words, if I created it, I could have fun with it. Headset – check. Lawn chair – check. Some bombass Indian take-out and a smoothie – check. Time to check in on the neighbors. 

“Mommy why can’t Dad read me a bed time story?” “Jamie, you know he works at night. He’ll wake you up tomorrow morning when he gets home and cook you a nice breakfast before school.”

“Linda how come you can’t take out the trash sometimes?” “Well Tom, how about you cook me dinner?” “Alright, fair enough.”

“Oh fuck me baby I’m so wet!” “Oh you like that don’t you bunny?!” Oh god inappropriate stream detected. On to the next one.

…

“Uhhh I’m gonna cum!” Okay! Seriously moving on!

And then it happened. You know those moments when you witness something bad happening and there’s this split second when you have to decide instantly what you’re going to do about it. Example: you’re walking down the street and see a car heading directly towards someone. Do you say nothing? Scream? Do the words get caught in your throat when you try to warn somebody? Do you move or run? Are you frozen? Your mind is working but what’s your body doing? Thinking back on that night it’s hard to believe that everything happened in such a short amount of time, because it felt like I had years to decide every course of action I took when in reality it was only a matter of seconds. 

I heard him flirt force his way into her apartment. “Aren’t you gonna invite me up?” “I’m not that kind of girl.” “Can you use your bathroom then?” “Sure, I mean…I guess.” You could hear the small sense of panic and nervousness in her voice that she was trying to hide. It must have been only a block or two away by the sound of it. By this point I was getting good at telling how near or far sounds were. I heard them trudge up the stairs – three flights on the east side of the building – the key turn and then the door click as she opened the door and shut it, letting him in.

By this point I was so concentrated, I had blocked out every single sound in the area except for this single apartment. As soon as the door shut he pounced. The sound of hands running across clothing. “Jared please, I told you I’m not like that.” A body being shoved against a door. Clothing ripping. Skin on skin as he slapped her. “Listen here you fucking bitch you’ll do as I tell you to, you understand that you whore?” I was out of my seat and my goddamn mind. And halfway down the fire escape. I had no idea what I was about to do but my adrenaline was shot through the roof and I was ready to fucking fight Jared. 

I ran two blocks, following the sound to the apartment building, and jumped up the fire escape ladder. Somewhere along the way I picked up some piece of cloth in the trash and wrapped it around my face (gross, but you know kids, when you’re a crime fighter you’ve GOT to hide your identity). Third floor, east side. I was staring in the bedroom window, watching her struggle as he threw her onto the bed and holy shit I have never felt more alive. I was about to kick this piece of shit’s ass. Just one more deep breath and – I kicked in the window. I blasted in the fucking window! Okay maybe next time a subtler approach is needed because everyone is screaming, including me. I shouldn’t be screaming. I realized at that point I had never caught the girl’s name, but I can tell you now that it was Jess and at this point Jess took the opportunity to run into her bathroom, still screaming. Jared, the piece of shit, looked at me. “Who the fuck are you?!”

You know how earlier I was talking about moments? Well this is kind of like that except instead of those moments where you have to decide the best course of action for a bad situation, it’s that moment where you have to decide what to say as a sweet comeback. Because you see, piece of shit Jared here has set me up for a fantastic opportunity. He’s asked me who the fuck I am, and I could say “Well, nice to meet you I’m Margot,” or “I can’t tell you that on account of I’m trying to keep my identity secret” but that just isn’t an awesome enough comeback. 

So instead, I decided to go with a classic. “I’m your worst fuckin’ nightmare buddy.” And then I kicked his ass.


	2. Two Is Better than One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens (spoiler alert: Jared's an even bigger asshat) and Margot gets an unexpected house call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for all the positive feedback guys!! I'm still a mess but I managed to actually sit down?? and write another chapter?? and have fun writing this story ?? I don't even know how but it happened.

I came back to my apartment via the roof of my building. Mental note: bring a fucking key next time, asshole. After wiping the floors with Jared’s ass I decided that the best course of action would be to position his body in such a way that he wouldn’t be able to move or harm anyone or anything until the proper authorities arrived. Okay, okay, it’s possible that I tied him upside down and maybe, possibly, happened to write the words “rapist piece of shit” on his shirt across his chest in some lipstick I found on the girls’ desk. Not saying that I _did_ , I’m just saying that it’s _possible_.

 

“Let me see that picture again.” That was Detective Carisi, probably talking to the other detective, Rollins. I filtered the noise down to Mercy General Hospital and from what I’ve heard, these two were the detectives on this case. “’Rapist piece of shit’. That’s some kind of message.” Okay! Maybe I definitely did write that on him, but hey! He was a rapist piece of shit so… 

 

The nurse came out of the room with Jess and told the detectives that she finished the rape kit and she was ready to talk. Rollins and Carisi went in. “Hi Jess.” (This is how Detective Rollins helped me cleverly deciphered the girls name) “I’m Detective Rollins and this is Detective Carisi, we’re with the Special Victims Unit. Would you like to tell us what happened tonight?”

 

“Yeah, I mean, honestly I’m not really sure what happened.”

 

“But you were assaulted?”

 

“Yeah…yeah. That part I remember. Jared, I…oh god I let him in to my apartment. I let him in.” She started to cry.

 

“It’s okay,” Detective Carisi told her, “no one could have known what what going to happen.”

 

She nodded her head and continued. “He said he needed to use the bathroom and then he started touching me and I told him to stop and he ripped my clothes and he dragged me into the bedroom.”

 

“And then?”

 

“And then…I don’t know. I heard this loud smash and someone had broken through my window. I was so scared and I saw an opportunity so I ran into the bathroom. When I came out he was all tied up like that with that message on him. So I took that picture and then called 911.”

 

“And you didn’t see who it was that smashed through your window?”

 

I could hear her heart rate increasing. Hey wait that’s actually pretty cool I didn’t know the headset could even _do_ that I th- oh wait, shit, what did she say?

 

“You’re sure you didn’t see them at all? You couldn’t tell if they were tall or short? Man or woman?” Oh thank god she didn’t see me. Well, she _did_ but at least she’s acting like she didn’t.

 

“No it all happened so fast I couldn’t see them.”

 

“Alright Jess, thank you.” Rollins and Carisi left the room and walked to the end of the hallway. Ah, this is like being a fly on the wall of every room. I love this. I grabbed some Oreos and a glass of milk. Okay guys what’s the hot gossip? Are we buying her story?

 

“I don’t know Rollins…what do you think?”

 

“I think we should talk to Jared to get the full picture, but I believe her.”

 

“Yeah, good idea.” As they walked to the next floor down I realized I hadn’t really thought about what I actually wanted from this. Because if the police believe Jess’ story and the fact that there was someone else in the room besides Jess and Jared, I’m in big trouble. They are gonna be lookin’ for me and I can’t have that. I don’t want anybody to know this headset exists either. Shit, okay. Maybe they’ll just be cool about it. Ah yes, some random person busts through a fucking window, beats the shit out of a rapist, ties them up, and leaves. The police will totally be cool with that I’m so fine.

 

Oh my god I am so fucked. Why did I do that? Well, let’s see how this plays out I guess. The detectives were talking to Jared now. He kept grunting and moaning. Boy, this asshole was really milking the whole ‘I got beat up’ thing for all that it was worth, wasn’t he? “She invited me up, detectives! As soon as I got in the door, she was all over me, talking about how she wanted to be dominated. I’m not really into that kind of thing, but I gave it my best until we got in the bedroom and then out of nowhere this freak bitch–” Hey that’s me! “– with a mask over her face comes bursting through the window and attacks me! She kept punching and kicking me and then she tied me up.”

 

“So you’re saying it was a woman who attacked you?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Can you describe her?”

 

“No. She was wearing some kind of cloth thing all over her face. I don’t remember much of it if I’m honest, she kept hitting me on the head.”

 

“Alright Jared, well, Jess is saying that you were trying to rape her when someone she didn’t know came through the window. And someone wrote on your shirt the words ‘rapist piece of shit’. Can you explain that?”

 

“Rape?! No way. She wanted me to play rough! It was all consensual! And someone attacked me! Have you checked to see if it was one of Jess’ friends? She’s crazy! I bet she lured me back to her place to attack me! I mean I didn’t think she’d be that kind of crazy but it’s possible.”

 

Woooooooow! Did **not** think this piece of shit could be any shittier but here we are! Is this asshole seriously trying to claim that Jess lured him up to her apartment so I could be waiting in the shadows to attack him? Literally what the fuck.

 

Carisi and Rollins exited the hospital. Christ, now I don’t even want to hear the hot gossip. “Well Rollins, we’ve either got a predator or we’ve got a rape victim and a vigilante on our hands.”

 

I opened my window and screamed “The latter! It’s the second one!” Ah, fuck it. You can’t hear me anyways.

 

“Hey Rollins…did you just heard something?” Oh shit maybe they could.

 

“No, why?”

 

“Ahh, it’s nothing.”

 

“Yeah, well, guess we’ve got our job laid out for us on this one.”

 

 

Shit, shit, shit. Fuck. And shit. I paced around my apartment the next day, marker in hand. I knew this whiteboard would come in handy some day and today was the day! “Okay, okay, okay. So we’ve got two storylines.”  And no, I’m not talking to myself, I’m just thinking out loud. “Storyline number one – Jared’s.” I pointed to the piece of poop drawn on the board labeled ‘Jared’ and bulleted points underneath. “Alright, he claims that Jess lured him up to her apartment under the guise of sexy times when in reality she’s batshit and I was waiting in the wings to kick his ass. Of course, this story is false. Storyline number two – the real one.” I pointed to my marvelous drawing of the all seeing eye, you know, the logo for the Illuminati. It’s not important…anyway. “The one where he’s an asshole who tries to rape someone and then can’t deal with the fact that he got his ass handed to him.” I capped the marker and looked at my work on the board. The only conclusion I could come to was that this whiteboard was, in fact, still a useless waste of money. Alright, time to go to the bodega. Mama needs to stress eat while she figures out what the fuck she’s gonna do.

 

 

Not to sound suspicious or anything but I definitely only picked up one single candy bar. Not six candy bars, no sir. And definitely not chips. Or dip. Or a smoothie. I did some serious exercise last night though, so I would need those calories even if I did. I put the earbuds to the headset back on. I think I’ve decided that I’m not going to wear it when I’m out running every day errands. Besides, it can be a little overwhelming hearing everything that’s going on within a 30 block radius and trying to filter it and honestly, who wants that headache? Just now, I can hear the buzzer for the apartment two floors down. “Who is it?” “I uhh…forgot my key.” You see this is the type of thing I was just tal- wait. Wait, no I totally know that voice. Where do I know that voice from? And she’s walked up the stairs past the floor that the apartment she rang for is on. Oh my god I know who it is. Oh my god she’s at my door. OH MY GOD SHE’S KNOCKING ON MY DOOR. Holy shit what do I do? How did she find me? Can she see me? I jumped behind my couch. I mean maybe she developed X-ray goggles, anything is possible! Oh sweet baby Jesus please make her go away. “I can hear you in there,” she yelled, and then added under her breath “you’re not very quiet.” I heard that, though. Okay. I’m going to open the door. What’s the worst that could happen? Okay I’m opening door.

 

“Can I…help you?”

 

“I think you know who I am.” It was Jess. Shit she totally knows who I am. How did she even find me? It’s been less than 24 hours since last night and I didn’t even know her before then! “I saw you in the bodega and I knew –“ Damnit okay that’s it. I’m wearing this headset even when I sleep. What is she looking at? Something behind me caught her eye and she looked past me. Oh holy hell. I hit my face with my hand. I knew that fucking whiteboard was a waste of money and now it’s blown my damn cover. Oh god now she’s walking into my apartment. “Yeah…you definitely know who I am. Do you normally write down everything you do the night before?”

 

“No.” Okay that definitely wasn’t confident enough. “No!” I’m erasing everything. She knows too much! “Look I don’t know who you think I am but listen, okay?” At this point, I’m on my knees, hands clasped in a prayer position. The ultimate grovel. “Please don’t tell anyone! Please! It was a one-time thing I didn’t mean to scare you I thought I was doing the right thing I’ll pay for your window I’ll pay for everything just please please please don’t tell anybody!”

 

Her eyes were bulging. “Woah! Okay there, just calm yourself down!” Her hands were slowly waving me down. “I’m not here to rat you out or anything. I wanted to thank you!” Oh shit I was giving her about a 500 when it should have been taken down to like a 5. Woops.

 

“Thank me?”

 

“Yeah you saved my life last night. How did you even know who I am or what was even happening?”

 

“That’s…nothing.” Don’t touch the headset. Don’t even try and look at the headset. Don’t even think of the headset. Oh god she’s looking at the headset. Does she have some sort of psychic powers?

 

“That’s nothing? I’m sorry can you HEAR ME RIGHT NOW?” Ah fuck, right in the eardrums. And now the headsets off because someone can’t control their reflexes and now she knows. “Could you by any chance…hear what was happening last night?”

 

“Hear? Of course not. No, that’s preposterous I was right here. In this apartment. Blocks away. That’s a silly idea.” She just nodded her head knowingly. Why was she so knowing?

 

“Listen…You might not want to own up to what you did and I understand that but you know what really happened that night and I have a feeling you also know that Jared’s accusing me of conspiring to assault him. And you were the only other person in the apartment that can vouch for me. I’m not asking for any favors. In all honesty, you’ve helped me enough already. But if you were willing to do what you did for me, I’m just going to take a wild guess and say that deep down, you’re a good person. And good people help other people out. And right now I need some help.” She paused for a moment, looking back at the door. “Alright, I’ve said my peace, so…I guess it’s time to leave.” She backed away slowly, reaching for the doorknob.

 

“Wait…Jess…” I paused (you know, for dramatic effect. This was such a superhero moment I couldn’t NOT make it dramatic) “Can you throw this whiteboard in the dumpster on your way out? …I’M KIDDING! Get your ass back here. We need to figure out how I can kick Jared’s ass again.”


	3. The Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm the actual worst for not updating this sooner but I've also just started another job so please forgive me!! anyway, so I hadn't started writing this until I saw an episode of SVU last week and Barba was looking v nice and I was like oh shit!! I gotta write some more! so I hope this makes up for the time in between because Margot and Barba finally meet!!! more chapters should be coming soon bc I've finally started thinking of the direction i want the story to go so??? who knows, it's v rare that I have my shit together so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

It was the morning after I told Jess get her ass back in the apartment and we’ve made a few discoveries about the case. Numero uno – there were two main detectives working the case (Rollins and Carisi), two other detectives providing support (Tutuola and Lieutenant Benson), and one assistant district attorney (ADA Rafael Barba). Nummer zwei – the detectives on the case were leaning towards Jess’ side when it came to believability. And third – they just needed some more evidence to prove what really happened in order to discredit Jared’s story.

 

“So where do you get all the free time to do your superhero stuff?”

 

“It’s not superhero stuff, first of all. And I have a very…flexible job. Besides, where do you get the time to follow random strangers back to their apartments?”

 

“I guess I have a flexible job too. I’m head of IT at Halotech. What do you do?”

 

“Consulting mechanical engineer at Stark Industries.”

 

“Oh...well that explains the whole headset thing I guess.”

 

Neither of us really had a clue about how to move forward with the situation at hand. We were waiting, really. I had my ears on the SVU squad room, listening for any mention of the case. I tinkered with a new model of headset. I’ve had the thing for a few weeks and already I’m updating it, so help me god.

 

“Why do you have so many candy bars?”

 

“Listen, Jess. If this is gonna work out, you’re gonna have to not ask me questions like that.”

 

“Okay, point taken…So have you thought of any solutions, maybe?”

 

“Me? I haven’t got a fuckin’ clue my guy. What do you think all the whiteboards are for?”

 

“Alright well. You could tell Detective Rollins or Carisi that you were the third person in the room and explain what happened.”

 

“Ah, that’s a no go. No one’s revealing this ugly mug as Margot, in the apartment, with the supersonic headset.”

 

“Speaking of which, are you always going to wear a dirty piece of cloth wrapped around your face every time you do…that?”

 

“I hadn’t really thought about it but maybe, why?”

 

“I don’t know it’s just…all superheroes wear costumes.”

 

“Ohhh no. No way. I genuinely can’t even think of anything more embarrassing.”

 

Let’s fast forward to three hours later. She was sewing some cloth together as we spoke. Apparently, I’m getting a costume.

 

“Alright.” She paused for a little while, making sure the design was coming out as she planned. “What are the detectives saying about the whole thing now?”

 

I had crossed the theoretical bridge of moral conundrums when it came to this blessing/curse of a headset. Do I wear it all the time? Do I only wear it when it’s necessary? Hasn’t some boring bastard written a book on the ethics of supersonic hearing? I mean it was fine at the beginning, using it to spy on the neighbors, but now? Spying on the police and the district attorney’s office? I wasn’t so sure. But then I said fuck it, in for a penny in for a pound, and now I’m wearing it all the time. Yeah, you heard it. I like to live dangerously. Hearing things but _all the time_ and _from far away_.

 

I was tuned in to 16th Precinct and took notes. Well, not like physical notes, because we all know how THAT played out last time. Mental notes, guys. Mental notes from now on. “Rollins and Carisi are arguing over the credibility of Jared’s story and Carisi is playing devil’s advocate.”

 

“I get the feeling he does that a lot, doesn’t he? Can you tell who’s all there?”

 

“Uhh…well it sounds like Rollins and Carisi are working the floor and Lieutenant Benson and ADA Barba are at the table and Fin is at his desk on his laptop.”

 

“How do you even hear all of these things?”

 

“Well, I can hear Rollins and Carisi arguing. Benson’s asking questions every now and then, and I can hear another heartbeat which I’m assuming is Barba’s because it’s a little faster than usual and I know he drinks a lot of coffee because I can hear him sipping. And I can hear Fin tapping away on his keyboard.” Jess looked astonished before she shook her head and started sewing again.

 

Carisi and Rollins were still arguing. Barba slammed his cup on the table. “Look, guys, I’d love to stay here and chat all day but this case isn’t going anywhere unless we find this third person.”

 

“Oh, right, how do you suppose we do that, ask everyone in a 20 block radius of the crime scene?” Carisi mockingly asked Barba.

 

“Take another run at Jess or Jared, I don’t care. Just find her.” With that, he left the precinct. I looked back over to Jess, as she was putting the needle down.

 

“How long is it gonna take you to finish that…thing?”

 

“I don’t know; a few hours I guess. Why?”

 

“If you can finish it by tonight, I’ll take it for a test drive. I think I know what our next move is.”

 

* * *

 

“Where is he?”

 

“12th floor. He just left his office to go to the bathroom.” It’s amazing what happens when you put your mind to it…or when one of you puts your mind to it and the other takes a three-hour nap to avoid their responsibilities then freaks out and tries to update their headset as fast as possible before it’s too late. Anyway, the headset is updated! And the costume is finished! We all got there in the end, let’s not dwell on the past.

 

“Alright, well from the blueprints it looks like he has to go to the opposite end of his floor to get there, so you should have a while. How did you pick him? Why not go for one of the detectives?” Being an IT manager comes in handy when you need someone to gain unauthorized access to restricted files, it appears. And updating your headset comes in handy when you add in a feature that allows you to transmit sound to an outside source. Now Jess can hack the shit out of anything and tell me about it on this awesome new headset that’s two-way!

 

“Great. And I don’t know, he just seemed the most appropriate. Benson and Rollins both have little kids. Carisi is at his parent’s house and Fin is out to dinner with his son. This guy’s working late, and the building is basically empty, so it looks like he got lucky. Anyway, can you hit it? I’ve got to maneuver myself down six floors.”

 

“Do you really need to?”

 

“Yes, Jess.” I mean, honestly, how can one expect me to get down to the twelfth floor unless J-Lo’s ‘Get Right’ is motivating me? Jess’ programming skills came in handy programming this baby to also play music. It’s just a swing and a jump and alley-oop, I’m in his office.

 

“How close is he?”

 

“He just left the bathroom. Damn this is a nice office. He’s got a fucking fireplace in here, holy shit! If we need to do this shit again, I’m coming here. Dude’s got some hella fine taste in décor.” And we’re dancing to his desk. And there’s no panic button. And we’re dancing to his mantelpiece so he can’t see me when he comes in. “Can you turn off the music? He’s almost here.”

 

“Uhm….yeah. Hold on. Shit.”

 

“Oh no, what do you mean shit?”

 

“Give me a few seconds.”

 

“I don’t have a few sec-,” Shit he’s opening the door. Maybe if I sit very still on this mantelpiece he won’t notice me until she turns the music off. He hasn’t noticed me yet and he’s just closing the door. Ahhh-AHHHH, oh god he’s raising his head. He hears something. C’mon Jess you can turn it off. He’s frozen, but his heartbeat is racing. He knows. HE KNOWS. I can hear Jess chatting away in my ear too.

 

“Can he hear the music? Give me two seconds, I swear, and…and…it’s off!” Great now I can really hear what’s going on. His heart’s still racing. He’s sucking in a breath.

 

“Don’t move.” Oh shit that was firm. Nice tone, Margot. Why thank you, Margot, I thought it was very ‘superhero’ sounding myself.

 

“What do you want?” Aw, he’s trying to sound so brave. Isn’t that cute?

 

“You’re Assistant District Attorney, Rafael Barba?” He nodded his head. I jumped down from the mantelpiece. “You can turn around.” Jeez, he’s slow to spin on his feet. No sudden movements I guess. Oh my gosh we’re so close. And that is a REALLY nice suit. Damn boy. Okay, Margot, mind out of the gutter. Focus. “Do you plan on pursuing the rape case against Jared Chester?”

 

“I can’t answer that question until we get more evidence for the case.”

 

“What kind of evidence?”

 

“You know, I’ve got a feeling who you are, but just to be sure, would be you mind enlightening me?”

 

“Let’s just say I have a vested interest in the case. I don’t like it when rapists that I delivered to you on a platter are allowed to roam the streets.”

 

“My gosh, I should get a medal for the amount of times I’m right. I see you’ve upgraded to a full costume now. How nice.” Wow, he’s went from scared puppy to snarky bastard in 3 seconds flat.

 

“Wow, you’re a snarky bastard. What kind of evidence do you need?”

 

“Any, if you’ve got it. I take it you’re not going to make a statement.”

 

“No.”

 

“Good. Probably for the best. I don’t think this…” What’s he doing motioning to me? “…would be admissible in court.”

 

Hold on. I’m getting something in the earpiece. Sounds like some ol’ fashion domestic violence is happening back in Midtown.

 

“Look, Barba, I’d love to stay here and chat all night but I’ve got shit to do. I’ll get you the evidence, and when I do, I want to see this case in court.” And we’re backing away to the window.

 

“Do you hear that fight too?” Oh shit, Jess! Almost forgot you were there.

 

“And one more thing, lay off the coffee. Your heart is beating a mile a minute.” And we’re jumping out the window. I guess I should wait till I’m out of earshot. “Jess, I’m heading back to Midtown to deal with the fight. No one’s called 911 that I can hear.”

 

“Okay, I’ll look up the floor plan and relay it to you. Can you still hear Barba? What’s he doing?”

 

“Calling Lieutenant Benson. Looks like he just got his first visit from the Iron Lady.”

 

“Oh my god, no. Too lame, let’s not stick with that one.”

 

“Yeah, I don’t where that came from. Super creepy because he’s technically my boss!” And here comes the nervous laughter. “And also there’s no iron in this outfit. Okay let’s pretend that never happened.”

 

“Yep. Yeah. Never happened.”


	4. On A Platter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry I'm trash and haven't updated in a while, just been busy with work. I guess last night's SVU episode inspired me to finally finish the chapter I started a little bit ago. But thank you (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3) for all the comments on the last chapter and the support. As far as questions about the suit - I'm not really sure what it looks like. I found a great superhero costume creator on doll divine (http://www.dolldivine.com/x-girl.php) that I've been playing around with, but I'd really like to hear or see what you guys think it, or any of the characters in the story, look like. Thanks again!!! And I'll try and not be trash again and update within the next week.

The journey from Tribeca to Midtown was helpful, to say the least. I might’ve been out of breath by the time I reached the rooftop I was aiming for, but I realized how we were going to get our evidence. Or, at least, how I thought we could get some evidence. I also realized how we were gonna nail the bastards we stopped in the future. I’d have to enter a sort of under construction mode until I could fully achieve what I was thinking but, hey, a start’s a start.

 

* * *

 

“Okay, so what’s the plan?”

 

Alright guys, time to put this laser pointer to good use. “Right, so when I made this headset,” point to headset, “I also made a complimentary program,” point to computer, “that helps the device read and transmit audio,” point to everywhere all at once.

 

“Would you stop waving that thing around?”

 

“Ugh, fine Ms. No-Fun. Anyway, as I’ve probably told you before, I’m great with the mechanical aspect of stuff but I’m shit when it comes to technical stuff. So the program is rudimentary at best.”

 

“Do you think it stores anything?”

 

“I have no fucking clue. **But** you’d probably know if you give it a poke around.”

 

“Oh, great! Not even searching for a needle in a haystack, but the needle might not even exist.”

 

“I know, I know, it’s a shit option but it’s the best we have.”

 

“Alright, give me some time and I’ll see if it stores anything.”

 

It took an hour and half of searching through the clusterfuck that is my laptop but I’m happy to report that we have some evidence! (You see that word right there? Evidence? Well imagine it’s in like WordArt font. You know, the kind that moves in and out like on a PowerPoint presentation or something. That’s how I feel about the word. Like ~!!Evidence!!~ or something.) Honestly? I’ve never fist pumped so hard in my life.

 

“Okay, now we have to get it to the police. Is Barba working late again tonight?”

 

“Is he ever not working late?”

 

* * *

 

Wow, guess what. Somehow, miraculously, as if by some stroke of fate, Barba isn’t working late tonight. I know, weird right? I’m used to hearing him squeak as he leans back and forth in his office chair. Tapping his pen on his desk, taking notes on cases, sipping coffee, running to the bathroom every 45 minutes because he’s sipping coffee, telling himself he needs to stop drinking so much coffee. But _anyway_ , I wouldn’t listen in on him so often if he wasn’t always there. But tonight he’s not. So we proceed to Plan B.

 

“Okay, one more time.”

 

“Ughhhh, no more. We’ve gone over the plan like seven times already it’s not that complicated we’ll be fine. I’m going back to my apartment. Just drop it off at some point tonight and I’ll bring it in tomorrow. Good?” I nodded. “Okay…goodnight.” She packed up her bag and left.

 

I started suiting up as I listened to her walk back to her apartment, making sure she got home safe. Door opened, keys in the tray, bag on the floor, shoes off, flop on the bed, sigh. I got out the manila envelope after I put my gloves on, making sure not to leave any fingerprints. I wiped down the thumb drive, even thought we used gloves while handling it (hey, you can never be too careful), and put it in the envelope. Now came the hard part. The part of the plan we hadn’t decided on. What am I gonna write on this bad boy? This needs to be a special message for the detectives and Barba. Hmmm…

 

* * *

 

I swung down from the roof onto the fire escape and jimmied Jess’ window open. She was taking a shower, the perfect alibi. I never told her what time I was dropping in, to keep some element of surprise in the plan, and now seemed the most opportune time. Wow it’s weird being back in this place. So many memories. By the dresser over there? That’s where I kicked that piece of shit’s ass. And that corner over there? That’s where I tied him upside down! Ahh, good times. Shit, okay. Water’s stopped, gotta leave the package and get the fuck outta of here.

 

* * *

 

 

I could hear Barba’s shoes slamming against the floor of New York’s 16th Precinct as soon as I tuned in.

 

Speaking of which, today’s broadcast of events from New York’s 16th Precinct is brought to you by: Margot, your neighborhood…something? What am I? I’m not a superhero. Crime fighter? No, that’s lame. Asshole! Your neighborhood asshole. The best thing about this part of the job is that I can just lie in bed with ice cream and do it. Like right now, shoving half a tub of brownie ice cream in my gob and shopping for dresses online and keeping a watchful ear that this plan was going accordingly. More like your neighborhood multitasker! Oh christ, that was almost as lame as me calling myself the Iron Lady. Okay, back to the precinct.

 

He slammed some paper down on the table. Not one sheet, it sounded heavy. A magazine? It sounded less glossy…

 

“Anyone care explaining how this information made the front page?” Newspaper! It was a newspaper!

 

Rollins picked it up. “The Post always likes a good superhero headline, especially when they get to name them.”

 

I could hear his eyes rolling as he took his paper back and went into Benson’s office. Mental note to pick up the Post after this is over.

 

“Detective Rollins?” Finally! Jess made it to the squad room. Let the show begin.

 

“Jess! How are you?”

 

“Yeah, I’m…I’m okay. I just…found this envelope in my apartment? I went to take a shower and when I got out it was just lying there. On my bed. It’s addressed to you guys. I didn’t know what to do so I thought it was best to just bring it in.” Shit, Jess is laying the confusion on thick. This is beautiful. Oscar-worthy. Get that woman an award.

 

“Here, Jess have a seat. You did a good thing bringing this in for us. Did you see who left it? Did they leave or take anything?” Rollins found some gloves and took the envelope.

 

“No I didn’t see anyone, and no it was just this.”

 

“Okay, I’ll be right back, you just stay here. Carisi, c’mere for a second.” They walked into Benson’s office and closed the door behind them.

 

“Lieutenant, I think we’ve got something. Jess just came in with this envelope, said it was left in her apartment while she was taking a shower. I’m thinking our masked vigilante let themselves into her apartment again with a note for us.” I could hear her crinkling the bag, trying to figure out what was inside. “Whatever’s inside is small.” She handed it to Benson, who opened the envelope and took out the contents.

 

“It’s a thumb drive. Wonder what could be on here? And there’s a note. It looks like two pigs on a platter?” And there’s Barba’s snigger. “In red lipstick. Yep this is our vigilante. Okay get this down to forensics I want everything dusted for prints, DNA, you know the drill. After that’s done get this thumb drive to TARU and find out what’s on it.”

 

Rollins handed off the package to Carisi, who headed straight for forensics, as she went back over to Jess. Damn these people move fast.

 

“I guess whatever you said last night at your meeting worked.” You know, I can’t see her right now, but I can just imagine the sarcastic look she’s shooting Barba at this very moment. “Guess we might get the evidence we need to take this case to trial.”


	5. The Gala

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like.......? I don't even have an excuse for why it's taken me this long to post a chapter. It's been sitting, unedited, in my documents for WEEKS. Like, really....guys....I'm trash

I took a seat on the wooden bench in the courtroom next to the one Jess was sitting in. We had both agreed that I shouldn’t be in the same room as her, or the detectives, or Barba in case something gave me away as the masked vigilante person who’s fucking up every single rapist and child molester in Midtown. I usually like to not get arrested. But I do like to support my friends when they need help and have to be in the same court room as someone who assaulted them. So I took a seat and listened in.

 

Barba was cut and dry, like asking a judge to remand the person he was prosecuting was a task he could’ve done in his sleep. Actually I probably could tune in to his apartment tonight to see if he actually does try and prosecute people in his sleep. But anyway, he got what he wanted and Jess breathed a sigh of relief. I tuned out, starting to focus on the girl in my courtroom being prosecuted for theft.

 

I headed out when the next defendant’s bail was set. I didn’t even look up as I headed to the elevator. If I’m honest, I wasn’t really listening to the signals I should have been tuned into either. I just looked up as I pressed “Shuffle” and caught the sight of him out of the corner of my eye.

 

Now, if I could freeze frame this moment like they do in movies, I would totally do that now. Record stratch noise. Freeze frame. Close up on me. Some voiceover of me saying: “That’s me, and if everything that could ever go wrong happened at once, that would be this moment.” Because it did.

 

I recognized him out of the corner of my eye, and right at the moment, as if some powerful force fucked up my entire universe, JLo’s ‘Get Right’ blasted out of my earphones. And I could just feel him staring at me, and his heart beating a little faster, and his posture tighten up because he knew. But the key is that you’ve always got to be calculating and planning out how you’re gonna handle these kinds of situations. Except I’m terrible at planning and great at breaking down. So I kept the song blasting, stared straight ahead, counted the floors until we hit the lobby, covered my knuckles, and thanked my lucky stars that there was a third person in this elevator between us.

 

Third floor, second floor, first floor, lobby, and I’m outta here, cursing at myself that I needed to walk faster than him without full out sprinting. I ran down the steps as he got held up with reporters (thanking those lucky stars again) and headed for the nearest subway entrance.

 

* * *

 

 

I headed to Jess’ apartment to make sure she was holding up okay, which she was as best she could. I know I play at this whole superhero thing but I’m pretty sure Jess might actually be superhuman. I’m launching my own investigation. Was she actually born in Colorado or was it actually the planet of Xqara?

  

* * *

 

 

Two hours later I was slumped over the bar having my ear talked off by some asshole who felt the need to tell me every reason why “this vigilante is a dangerous woman and she might even be sexist”. I locked eyes with the bartender, a signal for help, asking her to please rescue me.

 

“Do you need another drink?”

 

“Yes. God. Please.” I gotta stop consulting for Stark Industries because then I can stop going to their charity events. I’ll still donate, but getting dressed up and turning up to parties to hang out with rich assholes? Not my style. I could hear somebody’s heart beating a little faster, and could hear the clicks of his heels approaching. There’s no fucking way, he can’t be here. Oh wait, yeah he could be. The DA’s office always sends somebody.

 

“Barba!” Oh Christ this fool next to me even knows him. Oh Christ he’s coming towards us. OH CHRIST he’s standing right next to me ordering a scotch.

 

Fuck _fuck_ **_fuck_**. I stared at the bar, lowering my head away from him. Maybe he hasn’t recognized me, right? I could hear him exhaling, letting out one small laugh. Shit, I’m busted. Play it cool though, Margot, you’ve got to play it cool.

 

“Is that Barba?” Jess! So glad you can join us in the moment of my freak out, welcome.

 

“I was just telling uhhh...” He’s already forgotten my name, great. Oh man the expression on his face is priceless. Social cues are tricky, because normally you’re supposed to introduce yourself to the new third party when the original party has forgotten your name and you don’t want to embarrass them. Not this time. I’ll let him suffer in confusion. “This _beautiful_ lady here,” And I just threw up in my mouth, “about Manhattan’s own masked vigilante. What’s the DA’s office doing about her anyway? She sounds extremely dangerous.”

 

“Dangerous? I don’t know about that. What she’s doing is highly illegal, yes, and when we catch her I do intend to prosecute her. But, with that being said, she hasn’t killed anyone, she’s alerted the police about numerous rapists and child molestors, and she gives great evidence.” Oh my god. Did he just wink at me when he said that last part? Where am I? Who is this man?

 

“Holy shit that is Barba! What’s he doing there? What if he recognizes you?! Listen I’m in the bathroom, I’ll be out in a second, just hold on.” Oh thank god.

 

“Besides Richard, while I am here to get a drink and I do _love_ chatting with you, I believe that Sally over there is looking for you.”

 

No, no. He is not doing this. He’s not scaring away everyone around me so he can confront me. This isn’t happening. There are six exits in this room and two entrances to womens’ bathrooms and I intend to use one of them if I can’t sweet talk my way out of this or if Jess shows up and distracts him, believe me.

 

“Well, it’s nice to see you again.” Okay first line of defense is to play the fool.

 

“I’m sorry? I don’t think we’ve met before.”

 

“No we haven’t. I saw you at the courthouse today. I’m Rafael Barba, ADA in Manhattan.”

 

“Nice to meet you.” Why is he shooting me a confused look? I’m not giving him my name, that’s too much information.

 

“You know…you look a lot like somebody else I think I might kn-” Blurt something out, you fool! Save yourself!

 

“Thanks for saving me from that guy!” Just smile, act enthusiastic, wait, and get the fuck out of here.

 

“Oh yeah, he can be a little much sometimes. All the time, really. So what are you doing here tonight?”

 

“Oh, you know…” There’s that confused look again. I’m wondering if, instead of sounding like someone who’s intentionally avoiding questions, I just sound lke an idiot? Yep. Probably. But what’s a good, uninformative answer to give that question? “I work here.” Shit. If you’ve just tuned in, that big red ‘X’ across the screen is to signal that that was the WRONG ANSWER, asshole! Too! Much! Info!

 

“Interesting! What do you do for Stark?” I wonder if slamming my face into this bar would knock me out. I wonder if he wouldn’t find that strange or memorable, either, because I would absolutely do it right now.

 

“It’s…you know…there’s different thi-“

 

“Barba?” Oh I could cry. Do you guys have a moment for me to talk to you about our lord and savior Jess? Because, well, she’s just _swell_. Now…what is the proper amount of time I should wait before I literally bolt out of this room? Okay they’re talking, and he’s flustered because she caught him off guard, and I’m slipping away, and…I’m free. Out the door. Just hold on, we’re going home. (See? I’m up to date with the freshest pop culture references.)

 

“Jess? You’re a goddess. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” And then the sudden realization hit me. Shit. “Now we’ve got to deal with the fact that Barba knows what I look like. Great.”


End file.
